Clock Starts on '24' Movie

The following takes place between 8PM and 10PM, on a Friday night, at your local multiplex.

After four years of talk, the makers of '24' are finally moving ahead with a big-screen version, Variety reports. Twentieth Century Fox has hired veteran conspiracy thriller scribe Billy Ray ('Flightplan,''Breach') to write the screenplay for a theatrical '24' movie. But will it be an interstitial, between-seasons movie or a series finale?

That all depends on whether Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer can save his own hide one more time -- not just from foreign terrorists or stab-happy Renee (as on last night's episode), but from declining Nielsen ratings. As Entertainment Weekly notes, the show's total viewership is down 10 percent from this time last season, and its numbers among the coveted 18-to-49 demographic are down 15 percent. With no deal in place for a ninth season of '24,' Fox network executives are going to be watching the ratings over the next few weeks to decide whether or not this season will be the last. If it is, the film would likely serve as the series finale.